Misinterpretations often reduce the verse to a blanket rejection of physical needs, implying one can forgo food entirely in favor of spiritual pursuits, ignoring God's provision of daily bread as taught elsewhere; others treat it as mere advocacy for Bible study without obedience or context of temptation resistance, or misuse it to evade practical responsibilities by claiming superior spiritual living exempts one from earthly duties.
Matthew 4:4
King James Version (1769)
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 to counter Satan's temptation to satisfy physical hunger by miraculous means after forty days of fasting, emphasizing that human life sustains not solely by bread or material provisions but by every word from God's mouth, underscoring the primacy of spiritual dependence on divine instruction and obedience for true fulfillment and endurance in trials.